CATCH THE BUZZ – Good Food Awards for 2017 in the Honey Category

The Good Food Awards celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsibly produced. We grant awards to outstanding American food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients. We host an annual Awards Ceremony and Marketplace in San Francisco to honor the Good Food Award recipients who push their industries towards craftsmanship and sustainability while enhancing our agricultural landscape and building strong communities.

In its seventh year, Good Food Awards will be given to winners in 14 categories: beer, cider, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, confections, honey, pantry, pickles, preserves, spirits, oil and our newest category, preserved fish. Awards will be given to producers and their food communities from each of five regions of the U.S. The Good Food Awards Seal, found on winning products, assures consumers they have found something exceptionally delicious which also supports sustainability and social good.

For the Honey Category

There are over 300 unique types of honey in the U.S. The Good Food Awards will showcase honeys most distinctive in clarity and depth of flavor, produced by beekeepers practicing good animal husbandry and social responsibility. From rooftop urban hives to busy bees pollinating organic orchards and meadows filled with wildflowers, awards will be given out in Liquid & Naturally Crystallized, Creamed, Comb and Infused Honey subcategories. View the full criteria for entry.

COMMITTEE CHAIR

Amina Harris is the Director of the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, UC Davis, working to make the school a leading authority on honey bee health, pollination and honey quality. The Center has been involved in the development of many innovative programs from making mead, to bee health and, most recently, the Honey Sensory Experience. Under her direction, the Center published the UC Davis Honey Flavor Wheel, widely acclaimed to help tasters describe honey flavors. In addition, Amina owns Z Specialty Food, LLC with her husband and son. Moon Shine Trading Company, a division of Z Specialty, has been offering unique American varietal honeys for over thirty years and has won awards from the Specialty Food Association and the National Honey Board. Amina served on the Board of Directors of the Specialty Food Association (then NASFT) for six years and was the Winter and Spring Show Committee Chair for many years. During her time both on the Board and exhibiting at the Fancy Food Shows since the early 1980’s, Amina has been an active participant of the ever changing and growing food industry.

M.E.A. McNeil is a journalist writing for Bee Culture Magazine and The American Bee Journal as well as the new edition of the seminal reference book The Hive and the Honey Bee. She is a Master Beekeeper and a member of the UC Davis Mondavi Center Honey and Pollination Board. She lives with her husband on a small organic farm in San Anselmo, California.

COMMITTEE

Emily Brown, Owner, AZ Queen Bee
Mary Canning, Founder & CEO, Follow the Honey
Mark Carlson, Beekeeping Instructor/Entomologist, Round Rock Honey Beekeeping School
Kim Flottum, Editor, Bee Culture Magazine
Terry Oxford, Owner, UrbanBee San Francisco

2017 HONEY JUDGES

Debbie Arrington, Senior Writer, Sacramento Bee
Pete Bakulić, President, The Mazer Cup International Mead Competition
Leo Beckerman, Co-Founder, Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen
Robb Duncan, Founder, Dolcezza
Ann M. Evans, Cookbook Author, Columnist & Local Food Systems Consultant
Deborah Koons Garcia, Filmmaker, Symphony of the Soil & The Future of Food
Orietta Gianjoro, Owner, Orietta LLC
Mallory Leicht, Retail Trainer, Blue Bottle Coffee
Mourad Lahlou, Chef, Mourad
Elisabeth Prueitt, Co-Founder & Executive Pastry Chef, Tartine Bakery
Deborah Rogers, Olive Oil Producer & Owner, Marquesa EVOO
Ellen Roggemann, Food & Farm Consultant, The Radical Radish
Sharon Schmidt, Volunteer Director, Cascade Girl & Oregon Honey Festival
Amber Selene Turpin, Freelance Food & Travel Writer, Civil Eats, Edible & Mercury News
Faun Skyles, Store Manager & Head of Butchery Department, Bi-Rite Market
Anna Soellner, Head of Communications, Driver Group
Yuko Suzuki, President, Office Musubi Co.
Hannah Ziskin, Executive Pastry Chef, nopa

This year’s winners are…

HONEY

Ann’s Raspberry Farm/Voracious Honey, Raspberry Blossom, Ohio 
Bear Creek Organic Farm, Boyne Honey, Michigan 
Bee Wild, 100% Pure and Raw Sourwood Honey, Georgia 
Bee’s Needs, Marvelous May, New York  
C&C Orchards, Wildflower Honey, Massachusetts 
Crusher Honey, Crusher Honey, Illinois 
Gold Star Honeybees, Gold Star Honeycomb, Maine 
Hall’s Honey, Raw Extracted Honey, Nevada 
Mad Urban Bees, Urban Honey, Wisconsin 
Miss Bee Haven Honey, Star Thistle Honey Comb, California
MtnHoneySpring Wildflower, Georgia
Old Blue Raw Honey, Harlan: Bigleaf Maple & Harlan: Wild Blackberry, Oregon 
Playflight Honey, Kelsey Creek Spring Raw Honey, California 
Sequim Bee Farm, Blackberry Honey, Washington 
Tewksbury Honey, Spring Harvest, Massachusetts 
Williams Honey Farm, Wildflower Honey, Tennessee